The Oil Drum

Have you thought about becoming a preacher! The ultimate in job security - the worse things get, the better your job prospects.

The idea that people will be going into "energy production" assumes a BAU-lite scenario where credit is still available to finance "energy production." That's not happening.

Now if by "energy production" you mean growing weed or homemade ethanol then maybe it's doable. But those occupations don't generally meet what people think of when they use the word "career."

Im a mechanical engineer - Work for Caterpillar Inc.
I wasnt sweating until the financial meltdown because if things continue folks will quit buying much of our product. I cant comment beyond that, I havnt seen a slow down in our business yet but logic tells me it will happen.

High commodity prices favor our business because we sell equipment to the mining and oil industry. Ive personally given Halliburton and Schlumberger execs guided tours of the facility I work at.

A Weak dollar can also favor our business - since we are an exporter, although we have moved some of our export business overseas to be closer to the customer.

Having said all that I think being an engineer is a good thing, even without my current employer. I could help design wind turbines, hydro projects or other means of trasnportation.

My job as a diesel engine designer is probably limited, but im not limited to diesel engine design.

I think its also important to have other basic skills. I hunt (firearms as well as a bow). Know how to prepare your own kills. Know how to sew. Plant a garden. You get the idea. Your job is important but I think of equal importance will be those long lost skills that some folks practice today as a "hobby".

As an engineer you get paid for what you KNOW not for what you DO, but dont be complacent. Manual skills will be increasingly important.

I'm a student of chemical engineering in Canada. My current plan once I graduate is to get some experience in the Alberta tar sands industry, and move from there to working with renewable fuel sources such as biodiesel. I realize that many chemical engineers work on large industrial plants that might not be economical post-crash, but even if the economy becomes severely localized there will still be demand for locally-produced biofuels and fertilizer for agricultural use (assuming this is net energy positive).

I would be interested in hearing from others who might know about further opportunities in chemical engineering.

As a chemical engineer with ~7 years of experience, I can say that it is certainly an employee's job market (or it was a few weeks ago when I last checked around).

It still seems that the general disinterest in the engineering fields is now showing up as a talent deficit for companies just trying to replace retiring boomers. It will be much more problematic to try to expand to meet future challenges.

A quick glance at www.careerbuilder.com shows that I have literally hundreds of opportunities in areas that my wife and I are considering moving to in the next few years (more sustainable than the Columbus, OH region).

It will be interesting to see how this plays out in time.

As far as my current job goes, the market outlook for the next few months looks bleak. Orders are way down and my line is likely to be idled for a week or more in December.

Unfortunately, I agree with your comments. And I would echo Gail's comments that the medical fields are bloated and unlikely to continue at this level.

Traditionally, vets were not paid much, esp in large animal practice. No one can afford treatment of livestock that are already resulting in a net loss. Small animal practice, now the source of the bucks for vet practice, will die with the end of "pet insurance" and folks with so much discretionary income. In ag itself, traditional grads tried for the few jobs with government-USDA, county extension, etc and the bulk ended up in marketing ag commodities. You don't need a degree to farm.

I've listened to the strides for aquaculture till I'm blue in the face, since all thought we'd have magic algal colonies in a space-aged Jetson world. It'll never compete with its sky high cost structure in a commodity world controlled by the cheapest food for the most people. Finfish aquaculture, the lions share of the market, has always been controlled by the cost of the wild product. Demise of wild fisheries doesn't necessarily mean ascendancy of the cultured, for the industry depends on wild "trash" species, processing offal, and by catch for the feed of cultured species. Strides are being made in getting the correct nonwild feed formulations for certain species, but there's a host of other problems. It's so much like biofuels, it'll work, but never scale.

How about microbiology and biochemistry coupled with environmental science!? After losing those 200 or so petroleum slaves why not put to work a few trillion microbes. Feed and anerobic reactor fecal matter get out usable methane gas. Algae utilize the suns energy very well and produce lipids (for biodiesel), carbohydrates (for bioethanol), and proteins for animal feed. They can also be used to scavenge phosphorus and nitrogen to produce fertilizers. They grow in freshwater, brackish and salt water under a wide variety of temperature regimens. They may be capable of producing biopolymers than can fit into plastic production. Lots of possibilities in these fields.

I'm applying to the Applied Economics program at the University of Minnesota. They have a concentration in resource economics. I think Wisconsin has a very good program in this field as well.

Nate Hagens is getting a doctorate at the Gund Institute of Ecological Economics at University of Vermont.

I'm not sure where,

but aquaculture has a huge future.

I thought about including the oil industry, but didn't include it because the individual who wrote the letter lives in a country that has no oil resources. There will probably be more "Jobs per barrel" in the future, just because oil is more and more difficult to extract.

I went the other way. I was an engineer in the oil drilling tools market for 15 years and decided to go back to school for computer science. Now I still work for an oil tools company, but I write customization software to make the engineers more efficient. Cross training turns out to be VERY valuable. When times are good, they like me to help speed things up for the 700 engineers, and when times are bad, they want me to make it possible to run everything with less people.

I'm sorry, what is incorrect about the limit theorem + Riemann Sum approach?

Right, and these all fit into Gail's thoughts about localization, too.

Gunsmith
Doctor specializing in gunshot wounds.

At least in the US these will be jobs for life.

I've read quite a bit about the Great Depression and two major themes seem to be at play.
If you want to do well you have to own your own house outright and have a bit of savings. Next you should develop a variety of skills but most importantly it seems that being a good trader was important this makes sense as you move to a barter society. This means in many cases developing a good standing in the community and developing a reputation as a honest business man. It just seemed to me reading the stories that regardless of what the person was doing the ones that did well did so because they where decent small business men. On the other side of the coin if you don't have the money to own outright renting from someone that is decent and owns the house and getting a job with a stable business may be a good idea. I'm not sure how to explain but the local leaders if you will took on a much much larger role in the depression acting as banks, investors, managers of trade, provided work and housing for the poor etc etc. They reminded me of a startup company. Everyplace will be scrambling to figure out what they can do with their local resources to sell stuff to someone else. Given peak oil any long distance trade will probably be in non-perishable items or durable goods. This includes foodstuffs that can keep well.

One thing you can do is monitor what you do everyday and who you interact with and consider how this would change under peak oil.
You will find that certain interactions are very important to you I have kids so milk is high on the list. This means that anything that has to do with milk is probably a safe bet.